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0402 457 462 | Digital Photograph Restoration and RetouchingTue, 29 Mar 2016 10:36:58 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.8Composite Photo Frame completed for Margarethttp://picturefixer.com.au/blog/archives/85
Tue, 22 Mar 2016 06:32:54 +0000http://picturefixer.com.au/blog/?p=85I was very pleased to assist Margaret with her photo frame recently, she had 21 old and new family photos that she wanted to display in a purchased picture frame. We decided that they should all be black and white so I scanned them all, performed minor photo enhancements, restored the three that needed more work, converted them all to true black and white, enlarged and cropped them to size then arranged professional prints. I then carefully put the photos in the frame. Happy to say that Margaret was delighted with the result, these are her words:

Thank you Jenny for my “composite” photos and frame. I am delighted with the final result. You certainly added an artistic touch which I could not have achieved.
With my appreciation,
Margaret…

]]>Testimonial – Gary Meadhttp://picturefixer.com.au/blog/archives/72
Tue, 01 Dec 2015 09:09:26 +0000http://picturefixer.com.au/blog/?p=72Thank you Gary for these kind words, it was such a pleasure and a challenge to work on these damaged but precious old photos and I as well as Gary was extremely pleased with the result, the revitalized printed portraits were distributed amongst his family to be treasured for years to come.

I took three pictures to Jenny at Picture Fixer; two were ‘traditional’ wedding photos taken in the 1920s, the third was a photo of my late wife that was taken in the early 1950s. All were in extremely bad shape; they’d not been cared for and there was a lot of damage. Jenny took a lot of time and trouble to achieve what I will say is an wonderful result. I’m happy to recommend Jenny to anyone who wants to know. And I’m happy to show the ‘before and after’ to anyone who’d like to see them, Gary Mead

Damaged old wedding photo before restoration

The same wedding photo after restoration

Old vintage photo with extreme damage

Restored wedding photo

Photograph prints

]]>Restoration Process, Second Stage; Healing and Reconstructinghttp://picturefixer.com.au/blog/archives/55
Mon, 21 Sep 2015 02:19:06 +0000http://picturefixer.com.au/blog/?p=55Healing and reconstructing damaged areas of a photo is actually my favourite part of the photograph restoration process as it gives me such a feeling of achievement when comparing the result to the often almost hopeless looking original. This portrait has been particularly rewarding.
Here I have started on the face, taking great care to preserve the existing texture of the skin and the old photo. A completely smooth, air-brushed overly processed look is out of keeping with the character of such a beautiful old portrait. I use a variety of the tools available in Photoshop to achieve this; the healing tools and the patch tool is best for preserving texture. Of course a graphics tablet is essential as well. The next task is to reconstruct the corner of the lips, this requires a great deal of care as it is extremely important to get detailed facial features such as mouth and eyes as perfect as possible. I pay extremely careful attention to form, colour and shade, using a variety of tools such as clone stamp, the healing tools, sometimes dodge and burn etc.
Now the lips have been reconstructed I turn my attention to the other damaged areas of the photograph, nibbling away at the edges of the larger areas, creating “islands” which I can then heal using the healing tools. Areas of blank background are more forgiving than faces but I always take care to preserve the texture and shading if appropriate.
Healing the damaged areas of the lady’s blouse is quite challenging and is an exercise in patience as texture and pattern has to be continued, together with the shading of folds.
All the damaged areas have now been completely repaired. Sometimes there can be a blemish or area of concern in the original photo which was not the result of physical damage, how I deal with it will depend on the clients wishes and whether it detracts artistically from the image or is in keeping with the character of the image. Issues such as this did not really arise in this portrait, but I have in the past erased pen messages from an old girlfriend or even added in the island of Tasmania which somehow was left off a map of Australia!

Don’t miss my next post dealing with correcting the colour and density (contrast) of this gorgeous old portrait!

]]>Restoration Process Stage by Stage, First Stage; Scanning and Stitchinghttp://picturefixer.com.au/blog/archives/45
Wed, 02 Sep 2015 02:34:09 +0000http://picturefixer.com.au/blog/?p=45This portrait of a beautiful lady has been such a pleasure to work on and with the client’s very kind permission I would like to share in brief the stages of the digital restoration process.
When I received the portrait it was rather dusty and in its original frame, so I very carefully took it out of the frame and cleaned it with a soft brush. It was buckled but not a great deal, so was able to be scanned by my flatbed scanner. The portrait was large, 30cm x 38cm and I scanned it in two pieces with a resolution of 360dpi as the client did not require the portrait enlarged to a great degree.
You will see that the two pieces are different in tone, this is no problem as they can be equalized later in the restoration stage.
I then created a file the desired size and resolution in Photoshop, dropped my two halves in and very carefully aligned and blended them so that they appear to be one image. There is still a difference in tone but I will address this later.
Stay tuned for the Second Stage in my next post, healing of all the damaged areas, of which there are quite a few!
]]>Step by Step Instructions on Scanning Photographs for best results in Restoration and Retouchinghttp://picturefixer.com.au/blog/archives/4
Thu, 20 Aug 2015 09:08:31 +0000http://picturefixer.com.au/blog/?p=4

Gently wipe your photo clean of any dust or particles with a soft clean dry microfibre cloth or a soft clean brush.

Make sure your scanner glass is clean; smudges or fingerprints can be removed by spraying a little mild non-ammonia household cleaner on to a cloth and wiping the glass gently, then polishing dry with a dry microfibre cloth.

If the photo is stuck behind glass, do not try and peel it off as in most cases the photo will scan effectively through the glass. Just give the glass a wipe or clean as detailed above, making sure to keep all moisture and cleaning products from touching the photo.

Turn your scanner on and place your photo as per your scanner’s instructions. If it is not lying flat you may find it necessary to gently weigh it down with a book.

Open your scanner software. Do not use the automatic mode as you need to vary resolution etc. You should be able to select the following options;

Document Type: Photograph

Image Type: Color (Select ‘Color’ even if your photo is black and white, this results in a file with greater depth of digital information).

Resolution: This is where things can get a bit technical, and there is a lot of confusion on the subject! It really depends how big your original photo is and how large you would like your finished photo. If scanning negatives a higher resolution such as 2400 dpi or more is needed as they are so much smaller than the usual output. As a general guide for photos I will usually select a resolution of 720 dpi, if the photo needs to be enlarged a great deal then I will choose a higher resolution of 1200 or 1600 dpi. I will discuss resolution in greater detail in another post.

If your scanner software has any image adjustments available such as colour correction or sharpening, please leave them all unchecked! They can be very destructive, it is best to have the file in its original, untouched state.

File Save Settings: Save the photograph as a JPG for ease of emailing, but at 100% quality, uncompressed, the larger the better.

Select ‘Preview’ if available in the software settings and check that the scanner registers the entire photo. It may be possible to draw a marquee or selection box around the photo to eliminate unnecessary areas.

Select ‘Scan’.

Check your jpg file to make sure your photo is all there and uncorrupted.

Email it to me for a free, no-obligation quote or alternatively Dropbox is a useful, free option for sharing larger files.